Running a book group

I love discussing a book with others who've read it (and sometimes even if they haven't), and so do many people, as evidenced by the popularity of book groups.  A book group without a specific focus in terms of a theme or genre works perfectly well, but there are endless ways to narrow the focus a bit:  mystery, classics, science fiction, book to film, nonfiction, history, cooking, etc.  I've run nonfiction book groups at two libraries.  Doing so has been one of my favorite experiences as a librarian.  I've also always found it challenging--from choosing which books to discuss to formulating discussion questions to keeping a discussion going and interesting and both reining in tangent conversations and drawing out more reserved participants.

There are quite a few things to consider when choosing a book.  Many highly regarded nonfiction books exceed 500 or 600 pages, but I don't choose ones longer than that so that people won't feel overwhelmed in terms of finishing the book within a month.  So I set aside otherwise good ideas such as Far from the Tree:  Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, by Andrew Solomon or Catherine the Great:  Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie because they're simply too long to expect people to finish in a couple of weeks to a month's time with everything else (including other books!) they have going on in their lives.  I encourage people to come to the meeting even if they haven't finished a book (which is not as important for a nonfiction book discussion as it is for fiction) but obviously people would prefer to finish it before the discussion. It was recently suggested to me that longer books might be split into two monthly meetings, but I can't attest to how well that would work because I haven't (yet) tried it.

I look at a lot of best-of-the-year booklists for both the most acclaimed and the books that are most present in people's consciousness.  Books I choose have good critical and reader reviews and ideally some buzz around them as well.  That is more something to keep in mind when you're trying to build a group--which titles would most grab people's attention?  Once you've got a core group, perhaps you can relax a bit and include slightly more esoteric titles.  I also keep my eye on award winners (such as the Pulitzer and National Book Award).  A book winning an award piques my interest in that I want to judge for myself whether it deserves the distinction--and hear whether the other book group members think so.

Another consideration in choosing books for discussion is diversity.  With nonfiction groups, I have a little bit of bias in terms of what I'm interested in reading about, but it's important to choose books that stretch across a wide swath of what nonfiction books have to offer.  I've never been big on science, so I shy away from books that get too technical into that, but otherwise I choose a good variety.  I always look to what type of book I haven't chosen before, and being a library-sponsored group, what books might bring in curious new members as well.

It is important to come prepared with discussion questions, but I usually will not rely too much on them except if need be when there is a lull in the conversation.  I prefer to stay attuned to the direction in which the conversation naturally goes (unless it veers too far off topic).  I see discussion questions more as insurance to keep a conversation going than a structure that needs to be adhered to.  I like to start the discussion by asking whether people like the book and what their general impressions are.  The downside to this is that it puts people on the spot.  But I just throw the question out there and people can respond however they want--and it's not as though we have to formally go around the table.

Often the publisher will supply discussion questions that one can find online.  If those aren't available, other discussion groups or libraries may have questions posted online.  If there are no discussion questions to be found for a particular book, I use a combination of generic questions (for nonfiction, in the case of my group) and original questions.  Even if publisher questions are available, I come up with a few questions myself based on my reactions.  That way, I can talk with more enthusiasm and conviction.

Recommended web resources:
Book Group Buzz
Lit Lovers
Reading Group Guides

Nuggets from the CLA conference

I attended the Connecticut Library Association conference for the first time on May 7th and 8th.  It was held in Groton.  In the past I've been to conferences for the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Library Associations.  Nuggets:

With the right leadership and creativity, your program attendance can increase substantially, even in the face of cut funding.

Holding programs in a series is a good way to generate excitement.

Incorporate programs that bring in a harder-to-reach demographic:  gardening and fishing programs can draw middle-aged men, and a program on how to win at blackjack can reach a younger male demographic.

Evaluation and assessment are buzzwords relating to both programming (things that may have worked in the past may not be working anymore) and interlibrary loan (how much is happening in this area?).

The Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative is independent of the American Library Association's RUSA-STARS, the interlibrary loan subgroup.  The Initiative has developed a useful checklist of best practices in interlibrary loan.

Everyday leadership means putting yourself in challenging situations; gaining fellowship (one's title is not enough); and is a conscious action.  It also connotes conducting daily interactions with consistency and integrity.

Start asking questions like the head of an organization.  Be a generalist; know it all.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives officially opens

Happy National Library Week!  It is also induction week at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which started it off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Library and Archives (two years in the making and open to the public since January).  The opening ceremony included a forum featuring a panel of music historians talking about things they had discovered in the collection.  The new four-story building is located on the Metro Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, about two miles from the Museum. 

The library's mission includes the following assertion:  "We believe the Library and Archives will help to take the Museum to a new level of visibility and recognition as a world-class cultural institution, connecting further with the scholarly community while at the same time serving the information needs of all music fans."  Sounds good.  From what I can tell from looking at the library's catalog, the library does not have a circulating collection.  Following criticism from the public that the library is only open 9-5 Monday through Friday, director Andy Leach said they are looking at opening an evening or a Saturday.

I remember seeing the job posting for a public services librarian at the Library and Archives awhile back and thinking that would be a fun job.  Most of the staff there have degrees related to music as well as library science.

I like the archives' inclusions of a Wilco collection, Led Zeppelin concert handbills, and Jimi Hendrix's original, handwritten lyrics to "Purple Haze" on "crumpled, yellow note paper."

The smell of books

Rachael Morrison, who works at the Museum of Modern Art Library, began a piece of performance art a year ago that consists of smelling every book in the collection, starting with the first call number in the Library of Congress classification system. She says, "I document the performance in a ledger, recording the call number, title, and a description of the smell of each book. The goal of this personal olfactory exploration is to foster a discussion of the future of print media, the ways we read, methods of classification, and the way in which smell is entwined with memory."

I am reminded of one of my favorite bits from How I Became a Famous Novelist, by Steve Hely, when Pete attends a book exposition:

"Along one wall were booths for hardware companies, where you could try out little hand-held iPod-style devices for reading. I picked up the Toshiba Dante and the girl showed me how to scroll through. I started reading one of the Harry Potter books on the light-up screen, but I found myself missing the feeling of dominance that comes from cracking the spine in two. I suggested she add a perfume dispenser that emitted the stink of dye and cut paper. She didn't seem interested."

I remember as a little kid I would smell every book I was reading. I have always liked how most new books smell and often the smell of antique books, too. Of course, library books occasionally can smell unpleasant: think cigarette smoke or bad perfume.

I am not personally interested in reading books on an e-reader because of how reading a traditional, physical book involves more senses than just sight. A physical book is tactile--I like actually turning the pages--and of course there is the smell. Says Bob Stein of the Institute for the Future of the Book: "These smells have an evocative power, especially for people who grew up loving books," and I certainly did!

Photograph of Rachael Morrison by Michael Schmelling

Reading as an act of "quiet revolution"

In The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time, David Ulin expands upon an essay he wrote for the Los Angeles Times in 2009. This slim volume is an ode to the practice of reading in our current age of information overload. Ulin's book combines memoir and literary criticism, a blend that works well. He frames the content with his experience rereading The Great Gatsby as his son reads it for a school assignment.

What reading gives us, Ulin says, is not only meditation apart from other people but also the connection we form with the author through his or her words. "We regain the world by withdrawing from it just a little, by stepping back from the noise, the tumult, to discover our reflections in another mind" (151). Ulin goes so far as to characterize reading in this day and age as revolutionary, "an act of resistance in a landscape of distraction, a matter of engagement in a society that seems to want nothing more than for us to disengage" (150).

The implications of this distracted state are addressed in another recent book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, by Sherry Turkle, who asserts that we are becoming so "immersed in technology that we ignore what we know about life." This thought is in line with Ulin's belief that we should take a step back from the large number of distractions we face. Few of us are immune, and we all may need reminding about the value of reading.

Thoughts on This Book is Overdue!

I hope people besides librarians are interested in reading Marilyn Johnson's This Book is Overdue! because she says how librarians are adapting to a changing world and why their services are still valuable. Libraries need this kind of support! I read her book not because I wanted to congratulate myself on my chosen career but rather to see how she might influence public views of the profession. I was aware of many of the specific library trends and librarians that Johnson discusses (the Connecticut Four--love the title of that chapter: "Big Brother and the Holdout Company;" librarian bloggers; the strong librarian presence on Second Life; among others) but the public at large likely is not.

This is a fun book on librarianship, for the most part, with anecdotes about a colorful array of librarians. Johnson got the idea for the book when she was researching obituaries for her first book, The Dead Beat, and found that--according to her--librarians were some of the most interesting people out there.

A whole book praising librarians may be a bit much, as Johnson does not tie the book together as well as she could have. I remain a mix of worried and hopeful about whether American culture is going to embrace librarians well into the future. We certainly have a significant advocate and ally in Marilyn Johnson.

Will Manley thinks libraries will die

Will Manley recently addressed the topic of whether libraries will die in his Booklist column. He quotes the dean of Syracuse University who proclaimed the death of the library "as a place." Then of course Manley makes obligatory mention of Cushing Academy and its library without books.

Initially, he's taken aback by the idea that libraries could die, but reconsiders upon noticing how people around him on the train overwhelmingly prefer their electronic devices to print materials. He is further persuaded by the success of online programs for graduate students in library science. He expects more programs to go completely online and that as a result "the new generation of librarians will fully understand the conveniences and economies of providing informational and educational resources solely online."

And so he concludes: "The Cushing Academy headmaster is right. Young people prefer electronic formats. The Syracuse University librarian is also right. The library will no longer be a place."

Good thing for him he's retired. He doesn't have to worry about how his career will evolve or even reach extinction! For now, I still believe not only that people will continue to enlist the help of librarians for reliable sources of information in the foreseeable future but also that the library as a place--at least the public library--will not lose its relevance. Although reference librarianship could move primarily to virtual territory and many of the materials loaned out could be downloadable, I believe people will still depend on the library as a place to use computers, get in-person instruction, attend events, and be part of a real-world community.

The point?

I started this blog to discuss issues in libraries and librarianship and my accompanying interests such as reading and music appreciation. I'm currently a reference librarian at a public library in New England.

The title, Libraries aren't dead, addresses comments I've heard to the effect of, really? public libraries are still relevant? Yes, and the key is they're evolving to meet the needs of their communities. Data shows that in these tougher economic times, use of public libraries is on the rise. Unfortunately, this is occurring simultaneously with measures to reduce staff, hours, and even the operation of branch libraries because of budget crunches.

Public libraries serve equally importantly as recreational and informational hubs of their communities. In this way, they differ from academic libraries. Quiet areas for research and study are important to both types, but public libraries strive to provide entertainment as well. They can be lively and fun gathering places at times.